(Clearwisdom.net)
A coordinator in my area asked me to write an experience sharing report. There are many experiences in the process of cultivation practice in Dafa; many tests and opportunities to change our temperaments to raise our xinxing levels. There are successes and failures. So many times I have been moved to tears by our compassionate and venerable Master. There are thousands of words in my mind and I don't know where to start. I've decided to report my recent experience of clarifying the truth to overseas Chinese people.
I attend the university. There are about 1,000 Chinese among eighty to ninety thousand people in this town. Most of these Chinese are connected with the university. To let these Chinese people know the truth about Dafa, we mailed them truth-clarification materials. We posted messages through the Chinese scholars' and students' web pages. The results were not very good. These actions caused arguments and damaged relationships with the Chinese Scholars and Students Association. They would not even talk with us for awhile. How could we better clarify the truth to these Chinese people?
Encouraged by fellow practitioners in other areas, we started playing movies on campus this February. We play Dafa related truth-clarification movies. The results have been quite good. Movie shows have become our major form of truth-clarification. More importantly, this opens a window to present Dafa and tell ordinary people about Dafa. This is a communication channel with ordinary people. On campus all Chinese know that Falun Gong is an active group. But only those people who work with us practitioners know what kind of people Falun Gong practitioners are. Many of these Chinese people have wrongly imagined that we practitioners are "aliens," stubbornly biased, inconsiderate, and weird. During our open activities on campus, only Americans accepted our flyers. Chinese people often would take a detour when they saw us. Those Chinese who want to know about Falun Gong are blocked by the old forces and various other factors. They won't call or e-mail us to ask for truth materials. Our movie shows provide an opportunity for the Chinese people to learn that Falun Gong is not an abstract idea, but a very real one.
Master taught us in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston,"
"You are cultivators, whose conduct is [supposed to be] pure and righteous. There are so many people who think you're great just by having seen how you act. If we don't pay attention to our own behavior in our daily lives, everyday people will see our actions and, since they can't get to know you at a deep level such as by studying the Fa, they will just look at how you act. And it's possible that one sentence or one action of yours will make them unsavable or create a bad impression of Dafa."
Some of us always bring cookies and drinks for the movie show audience. Other practitioners noticed that parents couldn't concentrate on watching movies because their children make too much noise. So these practitioners brought blankets, toys, and painting materials. They took care of the children in the hallway during the movie shows. We have tried to improve the quality and sound effects in the movies. We are also very careful in displaying advertisements of the movie shows. And we try our best to satisfy people who come. The people coming to our show are impressed by our unselfish services. They have learned that we do all these things from our hearts. I think that their aware sides understand and feel the Dafa disciples' compassion.
Many people chat with us during the breaks. This is a good way to change and influence them unobtrusively. After watching the truth-clarification movies, one person felt that these movies were really good. He asked us if we could make VCD copies for him. He wanted to show these movies to his family and friends. Some people also come to borrow books and exercise instruction video tapes during the movie shows. They said that they could not find us at other times, but they knew that we would come to play movies on the weekends. Our movie shows have become a place for communication between ordinary people and Dafa disciples. An artist in our local area who is also a consultant for the Chinese Students Association, would come almost every time. He would always talk with us and ask about how we are doing in our practice. He also expressed his appreciation for our efforts in serving the community. If there were no movie shows, these people wouldn't have the opportunity to meet and spend time with Dafa disciples. Through movie shows, we not only clarify the truth, but also build our reputation in the Chinese community. We also let them see the actions of a practitioner. We truly obtain many objectives by one action.
Another way we have reached the Chinese people is by picking up new students from the airport. The closest airport to our campus is about a two-hour drive. Many new students from China arrive at the airport every year. They often spend unnecessary money and time to get to the school. Some of them get to the airport at night and have to stay there overnight. Some practitioners thought that we could pick up these new students at the airport and offer them a temporary place to stay. We took this opportunity so we could tell them the truth of Dafa. The outcome of this action has been quite good. I usually send forth righteous thoughts on my way to the airport. I often arrive 15 minutes early and continue sending forth righteous thoughts. The new Chinese students get in my car with gratitude.
During the two hour drive to our university, I always chat about living and study situations in the U.S. I treat them like friends. After we feel close to each other, I would find an opportunity to talk about Dafa. For example, some of them express their gratitude towards me and say I'm the living Lei Feng. I then tell them how cynical I was before. It is practicing Falun Gong that has changed my attitude. Some of them talk about the corruption in China and morality becoming so bad. They think the Chinese people are helpless and have no hope. I then tell them that I think goodness still exists. All Falun Gong practitioners are like pure water flowing through the world. Some of them think that Americans are very violent from movies they have watched. I then tell them how upright and pure the Americans I know are. They are very surprised after I tell them this. I then tell them that those good people are western Falun Gong practitioners. As such, I talk with them about Falun Gong naturally. Almost all of them, at first, are very astonished to hear about Falun Gong. They then ask questions and I try to answer them. Unknowingly, they have learned a lot of truth about Dafa.
Once I attended a party organized by the local Chinese Student Association. I saw many Chinese students there discussing senseless topics. They were talking and laughing happily. I thought that many of them still did not know the truth of Dafa. They are so happy now without knowing what their future will be like when Fa-rectification arrives. How pitiful! So I told myself that I must use all possible ways to let more people know the truth.
I live in a small town forty minutes away from the university. This is a typical small town in the Midwest, with a population of only about 300. Most of the people are simple and honest farmers. In such a small town there are three families of Dafa practitioners. So I thought maybe I could arrange a "tour of the American countryside" to attract Chinese people to come here, and clarify the truth to them. I shared this idea with my fellow practitioners and they all supported it very much. I wrote a travel note-style article to introduce the natural scenery, local conditions, and customs of this small town. I posted this to the Chinese Student Association web site. I said, "If you want to experience American people, we can arrange a free tour of this small town." I initially limited the number of participants to 15 or 20. I was surprised that many students wished to see the U.S. countryside and meet American people. I received many emails and calls. The editor of a local Chinese electronic magazine asked if he could put my travel note in their magazine to advertise for free. The people who wanted to join the tour exceeded our accommodation capability. We eventually had to limit the tour to about 30 people. Most of them had not attended our movie shows, which means they probably did not yet know the truth about Falun Dafa.
During this half-day tour, we first went to visit an old American doctor of Chinese medicine who lives in the remote woods. From the description in my article, all the Chinese visitors were very interested in this hermit-like American doctor of Chinese medicine. In fact, this doctor is a Dafa practitioner who had practiced for over 3 years. He told the Chinese visitors his affection for the Chinese culture and how he had studied the Chinese philosophy and Chinese medicine for many years. Then he told how he finally found his predestined path--cultivation in Dafa. The Chinese were all amazed at his story. We then went to an American practitioner's family business that produces handmade porcelain dolls. The dolls made by this western practitioner are very exquisite and lifelike. All the visitors gasped in admiration and took out cameras to take pictures. At this time the practitioner showed a special doll she made for Shandong practitioner Wang Lixuan and her son. She told the audience how they were tortured to death. The Chinese students were shocked to hear that the 8-month old baby was tortured to death. The tour also included a visit to the town's grade school, a farm with a collection of pets, and a hunter's home.
We then visited a practitioner couple's home who are both artists. Their home uses solar energy to provide power, which many Chinese were very interested in seeing. After seeing the solar energy power system and the artwork, the Chinese visitors went to the living room and saw the book Zhuan Falun on the table. The visitors seemed to really admire Falun Gong. We have utilized our practitioners' expertise in everyday society to clarify the truth. All the Chinese students had a lot of fun and they got to know the truth about Dafa. Finally we had dinner together in a practitioner's home. We were joined by all the practitioners for dinner to talk with the Chinese. Prior to the dinner, we showed a truth-clarification video. At that time I felt the surrounding field was very righteous and serene. Nobody talked, walked around, or even drank water. They all concentrated on the truth-clarification video. I was moved to tears by the video. When I looked around, to my surprise, I saw some female students were also wiping their tears.
When the half-day activity drew to an end, the Chinese students all expressed appreciation and gratitude to our organization. They suggested that we host more tours, as their friends would like to join the tour too. A couple wanted to learn our exercises right away and borrowed the book from us. To host this kind of activity, we only needed to cover food and gas expenses and half a day's time. The effect of truth-clarification was very good. We also established Dafa practitioners' reputations in the local Chinese society. Next, we plan to take Chinese students to the nearby state capital building for a visit. We will talk with them on the way and distribute truth-clarification materials towards the end. These kinds of activities don't take much manpower or time and are able to be done by practitioners in small towns.
I realized many things and improved a lot from these activities. For example, without the cooperation of one body and the continued efforts of practitioners uploading movies, making truth-clarification videos, and hosting the movie shows we would not be able to use this method to reach people.
Here I'd like to share some of my understandings.
I have a deeper realization of what Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference."
"Looking at the current situation, the enormous current of Fa-rectification is soon going to gush over here, so a lot of things are being demolished bit by bit, and the most surface dimension is being reached bit by bit. That's why in some regions new students have started to come one after another."
The Fa-rectification has reached the final moment, with the evil that controls people being eliminated in large quantity. More and more Chinese people come to learn the exercises. Clarifying the truth to Chinese is also not as difficult as before. I remember last year when I went to the airport to pick up the new Chinese students. I would talk a lot about Dafa but the new students just sat silently with no sign of opposition or agreement. It made it hard to continue talking. Now after bringing up this topic, the new students ask many questions. I feel it's like previously I was wiping a very dirty, greasy table, which takes much effort. Now it's like there's only a thin layer of dust on the table; it's dirty, but as long as I wipe, it's very easy to clean it.
I have a better understanding of the relationship between cultivation in Fa-rectification and personal cultivation. Actually the personal cultivation at the current stage is contained and within the Fa-rectification. This principle looks simple, but to truly understand it one must solidly cultivate. Many attachments are not so visible in our everyday lives. They are only exposed when we validate Dafa and do Dafa work in Fa-rectification. In the process of validating Dafa, I saw many attachments in myself, and have also eliminated many of them. For example, previously I preferred the type of work that can be done at home, such as writing articles, chatting on the internet, and sending faxes. I was actually seeking comfort. Now the enormous current of the Fa-rectification naturally makes me drive a long way to pick up new students. I go to show movies during the weekends and participate in other projects that help me get rid of my attachment of seeking comfort. When first showing movies to Chinese students I had a very strong pursuit mentality. I should have followed the principle of doing without pursuing. During Saturday group Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts I would study well with the hope that more people would come to watch the movies. I thought if I send forth righteous thoughts well now, there should be no equipment problem in this evening's movie show. How strong the pursuit was. Sometimes even after realizing it, it's still difficult to let go of it. In the process of validating Dafa, after several falls, I gradually let go of this attachment.
The most important point I realized was that "Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master." (Zhuan Falun). We are only assisting the Master in the Fa-Rectification, while the real work is accomplished by Master. I learned many of my everyday habits. I would plan this and that, worry about this and that, be afraid of accidents, worry about accidents, worry about rain, and worry about traffic. In actuality, these are already very strong attachments. It is also a very strong attachment of fear. The old forces are certain to take advantage when they see this loophole. I finally realized that no matter how well we plan ahead, when things happen, the situation is unpredictable and may take thousands of forms. The attachment of fear is certainly unacceptable. If we are in the Fa, don't go to extremes, and walk a righteous path, then no matter how tumultuous things are, we will for sure accomplish our goal. Master will also strengthen us when we need it. It is very simple to say it afterwards, but I only realized this after numerous hints by our great compassionate Master.
I have one last point to make, though I don't know whether I have enlightened to it correctly. If not, please point it out to me. During the process of clarifying the facts I came to the understanding that we need to use different ways to save different people. I remember a practitioner who plays flute very well once cited Master's words: "a dynasty's emperor has that dynasty's courtiers," "a dynasty's sovereign being has that dynasty's people," "a dynasty's culture...," "a dynasty's dress..." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference"). He said for some people the flute is their culture, so it can touch them in a special way. While for some other people it doesn't have the same feeling. New students are not interested in our movie shows and other activities because they have very heavy workloads from the classrooms. We Dafa disciples should make greater use of the abilities and advantages given to us by Dafa to reach as many different people as possible.
"Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy." ("Rationality" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
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